In the past several blogs I have been breaking down each factor that goes into my New and Improved Experience Chart and today I conclude the series by combining the five factors into my final ranking.

For more than 7 years I have listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. Last year I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better.

We still do the exact same chart but now I just list the Senior starters, the rest of the seniors in the two deep and the points accumulated by using the system I used from 2002-‘08. In the chart listed below I have now included 4 other factors. The 2nd factor listed in the chart below is the % of lettermen returning. I devised a point system for this and explain it in depth on page 319 of this year’s magazine. Also added was the % of returning offensive yards. I took the total yards passing, rushing and receiving for each team and divided out the yardage of the returning players and the yards returning % listed below is that figure. I did the same with the total tackles from last year and the % of tackles returning. This gives us an idea of the defense’s experience. The final factor is the career starts returning for the offensive line. These players are not included in the stats but are a vital part of the offense.

I then devised a formula that factors all 5 into the total points equation and then turned the point total into a number from 100 to 0. A 100 would be a team with 25 seniors (NCAA scholarship limit) in the two deep and every yard and tackle returning and 120+ career starts on the offensive line. A 0 would be a team with no experience and 0 seniors in the two deep. Just as in years past the first number is where each team ranks in the NCAA.

If you have been following the past couple of experience blogs, it should come at no surprise that Boise St has the most experience points for 2010 with 92, which is 12 points higher than #2 Arkansas. Utah St, Ball St and North Texas round out the Top 5 and all three of those teams are looking to improve upon last year. North Carolina is the 2nd highest BCS school with 77.8 pts.

At the bottom of the chart is #120 Oklahoma St who last year ranked #10 and the Cowboys are clearly less experienced this year. Tennessee comes in at #119 and HC Derek Dooley will not be the only new face on the Volunteer sidelines this fall. Bowling Green, Mississsippi and Arizona St round out the bottom 5.

Here is the complete New and Improved Experience Chart which is featured on page 311 in this year’s magazine.

Total

Senior

Senior

% Ltr

% Yds

% Tkl

OL Career

Rank

Team

Exp Pts

Strs

2 Deep

Exp Pts

Return

Return

Return

Sts

1

Boise St

92

11

6

75

91.70%

99.30%

94.90%

94

2

Arkansas

80

9

6

75

83.10%

90.10%

74.30%

77

3

Utah St

79.8

10

9

75

75.00%

87.80%

74.50%

91

4

Ball St

79

9

5

72

73.70%

87.80%

73.90%

92

5

North Texas

78.9

10

5

73

72.70%

94.10%

75.00%

113

6

Louisiana Tech

78.6

10

5

84

77.80%

65.70%

71.50%

126

7

N Carolina

77.8

13

5

73

78.00%

98.40%

79.90%

57

8

Army

77.6

14

9

92

69.00%

79.50%

79.00%

72

9

Colorado

76.7

9

2

73

73.30%

84.50%

58.10%

109

10

Washington

76.6

8

5

75

72.50%

99.10%

72.10%

88

12

Florida St

76.4

6

1

56

70.50%

84.40%

58.60%

146

11

Temple

76.4

10

2

68

80.00%

90.80%

75.60%

107

13

Wisconsin

76.2

8

4

65

69.70%

90.40%

67.40%

107

14

S Carolina

75.6

10

4

71

83.10%

91.30%

74.20%

72

15

Nebraska

75.2

14

5

82

79.70%

94.90%

58.60%

75

16

Middle Tennessee

74.4

13

3

79

75.00%

84.40%

61.20%

93

17

UNLV

74.2

13

7

81

72.70%

77.30%

69.00%

86

18

TCU

74

14

6

75

79.40%

86.70%

72.50%

67

19

Rice

73.8

7

4

68

77.30%

61.90%

80.20%

91

20

Oregon

73.6

12

4

73

71.90%

86.20%

78.70%

85

21

Ohio St

73.5

11

4

67

69.60%

95.20%

65.00%

93

22

New Mexico St

73.2

11

7

87

68.30%

85.60%

62.80%

70

23

Boston College

73

11

4

70

65.60%

73.50%

71.80%

108

24

Houston

73

10

3

66

74.60%

93.10%

66.20%

84

25

Miami Oh

72.6

10

3

65

73.90%

77.80%

83.50%

86

26

Auburn

72.4

15

5

83

71.40%

51.50%

81.90%

111

27

Missouri

72.3

7

2

68

72.10%

71.60%

82.20%

80

28

Kent St

71.4

10

4

66

77.80%

90.50%

76.50%

61

30

Northern Illinois

71.4

9

4

70

66.70%

92.00%

83.90%

52

29

San Jose St

71.4

11

4

73

60.30%

72.90%

71.30%

95

31

Washington St

71

10

5

71

71.40%

72.30%

72.10%

85

32

San Diego St

70.5

12

3

74

63.80%

90.20%

64.10%

67

33

USF

70.4

12

4

72

76.60%

78.60%

46.50%

99

34

Iowa St

69.4

11

3

83

68.90%

87.10%

43.90%

89

35

Fresno St

69.4

13

0

59

75.00%

50.70%

80.50%

107

36

Wyoming

69.3

6

4

61

62.50%

92.60%

74.30%

70

37

Marshall

69.1

6

10

75

75.40%

74.90%

67.40%

69

38

UAB

69

7

11

87

75.00%

37.50%

87.30%

87

39

Georgia

68.4

7

3

60

66.20%

61.70%

50.60%

155

40

California

68.3

8

7

73

75.30%

75.70%

65.30%

70

41

Michigan

68.1

4

7

60

68.80%

76.30%

72.00%

82

43

Navy

68

15

4

89

55.20%

92.60%

54.10%

57

42

WKU

68

8

1

55

71.00%

72.90%

81.30%

65

44

Louisiana

68

12

4

78

68.30%

80.00%

64.80%

65

45

Akron

67.9

14

0

67

74.70%

58.10%

81.00%

84

46

Tulsa

67.6

7

4

66

75.00%

93.30%

57.20%

64

47

Eastern Michigan

67.5

10

4

64

71.00%

74.80%

64.80%

76

48

Idaho

66.8

11

7

88

81.00%

77.40%

90.60%

19

49

Stanford

66.6

11

5

74

72.90%

71.60%

60.60%

66

50

Miami, Fl

66.3

11

3

73

71.80%

86.90%

67.50%

47

51

Texas A&M

66.1

4

3

52

70.50%

90.80%

81.90%

43

52

UCF

65.4

10

7

78

79.30%

59.20%

67.80%

76

53

Arizona

65.2

10

6

75

73.40%

91.50%

39.10%

71

54

Clemson

65.1

7

4

63

71.80%

56.70%

72.40%

88

55

Connecticut

64.3

6

2

52

69.60%

69.20%

71.50%

74

56

Iowa

64.2

13

5

82

70.60%

88.10%

68.20%

36

57

Utah

64

8

8

67

67.10%

78.90%

46.10%

89

58

Louisville

63.9

15

6

77

70.10%

81.50%

39.80%

74

60

UTEP

63.4

14

6

80

64.30%

84.60%

43.70%

62

59

Nevada

63.4

11

4

62

73.00%

87.00%

59.40%

46

61

SMU

63.1

6

2

58

76.80%

48.90%

65.50%

88

63

Texas Tech

62.7

12

2

61

72.30%

96.50%

64.80%

29

62

Hawaii

62.7

13

10

96

62.30%

71.50%

64.10%

24

64

Minnesota

62.5

9

2

61

63.30%

74.70%

40.30%

114

65

Virginia Tech

62.3

7

4

62

63.90%

98.40%

50.60%

54

66

Oregon St

62.2

10

5

70

77.30%

54.70%

68.50%

74

67

Georgia Tech

62

11

4

69

77.10%

65.30%

72.80%

37

68

Air Force

61.9

11

6

86

75.00%

98.20%

58.10%

1

69

Indiana

61.7

8

7

71

67.20%

92.30%

39.80%

54

70

Michigan St

61.5

10

4

63

69.00%

83.40%

64.70%

43

71

UCLA

60.6

3

4

54

65.20%

68.20%

52.20%

92

72

Western Michigan

60.2

7

2

57

71.40%

39.50%

72.60%

107

73

Tulane

60

8

4

62

70.60%

59.70%

53.90%

87

74

Northwestern

59.6

7

4

70

73.30%

36.70%

72.70%

89

75

Miss St

59.6

9

3

65

76.60%

37.10%

75.00%

85

76

USC

58.6

10

5

68

67.50%

62.70%

61.10%

59

77

Buffalo

58.3

11

6

68

75.00%

27.50%

80.00%

82

78

Toledo

58.1

6

2

68

69.80%

45.50%

56.60%

100

79

Syracuse

57.8

12

4

73

71.90%

49.30%

78.40%

40

80

Duke

57.4

11

4

66

69.00%

54.40%

56.30%

74

81

Cincinnati

57.4

8

4

72

72.10%

71.60%

55.30%

55

82

West Virginia

57.4

10

5

65

59.60%

53.00%

74.90%

57

83

Illinois

57.3

9

2

72

75.00%

48.10%

80.80%

48

84

Oklahoma

56.7

6

5

57

67.10%

81.00%

52.60%

42

85

Central Michigan

56.5

9

2

59

74.10%

31.40%

67.80%

104

86

FIU

56.4

9

3

67

66.70%

55.70%

79.60%

50

87

Arkansas St

56.2

9

6

79

67.10%

38.20%

63.50%

78

88

Kentucky

55.2

8

0

53

63.00%

89.10%

57.00%

31

89

Baylor

55.1

7

7

61

67.10%

72.00%

56.60%

37

90

Rutgers

54.9

6

4

56

64.30%

71.60%

55.30%

48

91

Kansas

54.7

11

4

70

76.50%

22.20%

63.40%

85

92

Kansas St

54.6

11

6

80

64.50%

47.10%

58.20%

63

93

Memphis

54.5

10

8

80

64.30%

23.90%

60.90%

80

94

N Carolina St

54.2

9

1

61

59.20%

77.80%

56.70%

30

95

Ohio

53.7

11

7

78

78.00%

41.30%

66.80%

40

96

Southern Miss

53.5

9

6

69

65.60%

59.90%

77.70%

26

97

Maryland

53.3

7

3

57

79.30%

63.50%

70.50%

38

98

Virginia

53.1

5

4

59

69.40%

60.70%

61.60%

56

99

Colorado St

53

9

5

64

74.20%

49.50%

82.50%

30

100

Alabama

52.5

4

3

56

63.10%

89.60%

35.00%

46

101

ULM

52.3

7

4

64

60.60%

79.00%

41.80%

35

102

LSU

51.9

8

1

57

70.80%

63.40%

47.00%

52

103

Vanderbilt

51.7

4

3

51

64.90%

79.60%

62.00%

20

104

Penn St

51.5

8

3

67

63.20%

54.20%

51.50%

56

105

Notre Dame

50.5

6

3

58

61.10%

40.30%

69.80%

55

106

Wake Forest

50.3

6

1

56

70.60%

53.30%

62.90%

45

107

Pittsburgh

50.2

9

0

58

69.00%

59.90%

63.60%

42

108

Texas

49.9

11

6

70

67.60%

40.40%

60.70%

47

109

Purdue

49.5

5

3

55

67.70%

42.40%

79.40%

47

110

Troy

48.8

8

4

71

63.90%

46.10%

54.10%

57

111

Florida

48.2

8

6

57

63.60%

34.20%

50.50%

87

112

BYU

46.2

8

4

52

63.90%

42.50%

51.00%

66

113

East Carolina

46.1

9

5

70

58.90%

37.50%

38.00%

82

114

FAU

45.4

10

3

65

64.00%

47.50%

79.70%

0

115

New Mexico

43

7

0

44

72.10%

49.00%

57.00%

38

116

Arizona St

42.3

4

4

67

70.80%

25.80%

53.40%

47

117

Mississippi

39.1

9

5

61

63.50%

27.90%

59.60%

22

118

Bowling Green

37

9

4

62

68.30%

21.90%

43.80%

41

119

Tennessee

36.5

11

3

58

66.20%

37.60%

54.00%

13

120

Oklahoma St

33.8

7

5

62

57.90%

34.80%

44.50%

12

Please check PhilSteele.com everyday to get my Top 30 Countdown, which posted #14 Iowa yesterday. Thru June 16th, I will post both magazine pages on a new team ranked in the Top 30 and you can get an early look on how I breakdown your favorite team. Remember those magazine pages are available for only 24 hours for you to download. Today, Virginia Tech comes in at #13.

Also the official on sale date of the magazine is June 8th, but a lot of people have already seen them in the bookstores where the cost is just $8.95. We did get a shipment into our offices this past week and if you want to order thru the offices the cost is $13.70 with postage. Call 1-866-918-7711 or visit the PhilSteele.com store to order yours today.

I will be back tomorrow with complete details on how you can join me in a live one hour chat on Tuesday, June 8th.